How to Create a Golden Laurel Wreath Vector in Illustrator

In today’s tutorial you will learn how to create a laurel wreath vector with the help of the Pathfinder panel, Blend Tool and Art Brush feature. The techniques described here will help you to easily create any shapes of wreaths, such as wheat, olive leaves and oak leaf wreath. So, let’s get started!

Tutorial Details: Laurel Wreath Vector

Final Image: Laurel Wreath Vector

Step 1: Laurel Wreath Vector

To begin this laurel wreath tutorial open your Adobe Illustrator and create a new document (Cmd / Ctrl + N). Your artboard can be of any size. The laurel wreath that we’re creating will work equally well in the RGB and in the CMYK color modes.

Step 2

Create a circle using the Ellipse Tool (L), then move it to the side, holding the Shift and Option / Alt keys. This will result in a duplication of the circle. Objects should overlap each other as shown in the picture below.

Step 3

Select both circles, and then press the Intersect in the Pathfinder panel.

Change the position of the upper handle as shown in the picture below.

Step 4

Using the Pen Tool (P) create a curved segment from the lower point of the leaf.

Apply a triangular profile to this path and increase the width of the path in the Stroke panel.

Step 5

Select two objects, then press the Minus Front in the Pathfinder panel.

Step 6

Create a triangle stretched horizontally using the Pen Tool (P).

This is the basis for the laurel wreath branch.

Step 7

Fill the leaf with black color, rotate to any angle, and then place it near the beginning of the branch.

Duplicate the leaf, move the copy to the end of the branch and reduce its size.

Step 8

Select both leaves, then go to Object> Blend> Make (Option / Alt + Cmd / Ctrl + B). Now go to Object> Blend> Blend Options or double click on the Blend Tool (W) icon in the Tools panel and set the appropriate number of steps.

Step 17

Step 18

Using the Rectangle Tool (M) create a rectangle filled with black color. Place this rectangle behind the laurel wreath.

Step 19

Take the Type Tool (T) and create necessary inscriptions. For these purposes, I used Aparajita and Arno Pro fonts.

Select the entire text, then go to Type> Create Outlines.

Step 20

Divide the text with two horizontal straight line segments using the Line Tool (\).

Select both segments, then go to Object> Path> Outline Stroke.

Step 21

Create a few stars using Star Tool and place them above the text. Select all objects within a laurel wreath, then go to Object> Compound Path> Make (Cmd / Ctrl + 8). Fill the resulting object with vertical linear gradient, which consists of yellow and brown.

Congratulations! Our laurel wreath is finished! Hope you can use this for logos, badges, and any project you can think of.

My name is Iaroslav Lazunov, I am a graphic designer from Ukraine. I am glad that I finally found a job in my life that I can share my knowledge and experiments with you in my tutorials. Follow me on Twitter or visit my blog Vectorboom.com

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14 thoughts on “How to Create a Golden Laurel Wreath Vector in Illustrator”

Every time I get to the step to apply art brush it shows the leaves on the outside of the curved path but shading covers the right side from the top tip anchor point to the bottom anchor point…. its like the path is connected from the first anchor point to the last anchor point…ugghhh can’t figure that part out.

Apply a triangular profile to this path and increase the width of the path in the Stroke panel.
i cant do this step with illus cs3. Cant find the way to Apply a triangular.
i Can add arrow or make brush style, but i cant stroke that path 🙁